Hall of Fame Coach Sid Gillman, 91, Dies

Sid Gillman was years ahead of his time in the game of football. The proof will be on display this weekend as the NFL playoffs begin.

Gillman, the Hall of Fame coach who was one of the masterminds behind the West Coast offense used by several of the NFL's best teams, died early Friday. He was 91.

Gillman died at home in his sleep, his wife, Esther, said.

"We loved watching football, we were so looking forward to the playoffs," Esther Gillman said. "My life with him was wonderful, the memories, we shared so much."

Gillman coached the Los Angeles Rams from 1955-59 and the Chargers in Los Angeles and San Diego from 1960-69 _ their first 10 years of existence _ and again in 1971. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1983 and also was a member of the National Football Hall of Fame.

In 18 years as coach of the Rams, Chargers and Houston Oilers, Gillman had a 123-104-7 record.

Former Chargers running back Keith Lincoln remembers Gillman at his best in the AFL.

"He was so innovative," Lincoln said. "When we won the championship in '63, during the regular season we played Boston twice so we were playing them for the third time for the championship. He showed them some things that we hadn't done before. I think that's what gave us the advantage in that game."

Al Davis, who coached the Oakland Raiders from 1963-65 when he and Gillman were AFL coaching rivals, called Gillman "the flagship for the modern-day passing game."

"It was my good fortune to know him for 50-60 years, be a part of his life," said Davis, the Raiders' managing general partner. "Obviously, he exerted an influence on my life. The great ones, time never ends for them. Immortality is real when it comes to those people. I am sad. We'll miss him greatly."

The West Coast offense has been used by several successful teams over the years, including the Raiders, San Francisco 49ers and St. Louis Rams.

And the New York Jets made their run to the playoffs with such an approach.

The 49ers, quarterbacked by Joe Montana and Steve Young, used it to win five Super Bowls in the 1980s and 1990s. The Rams won the title three years ago.

It's similar to the passing offense Gillman used, one that spreads the field horizontally and vertically to open up passing lanes and give quarterbacks more options to throw the ball.

Kansas City Chiefs general manager Carl Peterson said Gillman was the father of the modern passing game.

"Absolutely, without question," Peterson said. "Sid was a true giant in our business. He was probably the most innovative offensive mind in our game."

"Last night was the first and only night that Sid was in a hospital bed," Esther Gillman said. "We brought a hospital bed up just yesterday, because we thought it would be a little more comfortable for him."

Esther Gillman said her husband died peacefully at 5:15 a.m.

"That was the most important thing, he had such a nice smile on his face," she said. "That was the best part. The whole time, he was never in pain.

"He was in his room with all the plaques and all the footballs and all the mementos from all the years. It was a wonderful room. And he was aware of that. He always went into his office, especially during football season."

The Gillmans, married for 67 years, moved to Century City, Calif., 18 months ago to be closer to family, Esther Gillman said. They had lived in Carlsbad, Calif. _ some 30 miles north of San Diego _ for many years before moving north.

Gillman is also believed to be the first coach to use game film to analyze the opposition. His reliance on film was attributed in large part to the fact that his family operated movie theaters in Minneapolis.

In his first coaching job, at Denison, Ohio University in 1935, he saw an advertisement for a 35-millimeter projector for $35.

"We can't afford that," Esther Gillman recalled in an interview three years ago. "He says, `I have to have this.' That was the beginning. He would come home, we would put up a white sheet on the wall, Sid would show me these films."

The Gillman garage in Carlsbad was loaded with dozens of reels of film and videotapes, along with about 50 binders resembling an encyclopedia set chock full of football plays and philosophies.

Gillman, 88 at that time, said he watched football tapes about two-to-three hours every other day.

"I'm still involved; I will be, as long as I keep getting movies from these coaches," he said at the time. "Every once in a while I ask myself, `I'm not coaching, why do I do this?'"

He answered his own question by saying: "I'd hate to have something on the football field happen that I'm not aware of."

Gillman is also survived by four children, eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

A funeral service will be held Sunday for family and close friends. Esther Gillman said a tribute will be held at a date to be determined.